Movie notes: Wine and Tool

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan’s winemaking efforts are the subject of the documentary “Blood Into Wine,” which opens Thursday in S.A. for a brief run.

There are limited-release movies, and then there are really limited-release movies. In the latter category is “Blood Into Wine,” a sadly underpublicized documentary that begins a four-day run tomorrow night at the Bijou Cinema Bistro.

That’s a shame, because San Antonio seems like a good fit. Mainly because it deals with Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan’s drive to set up a winery in northern Arizona, and S.A. loves Tool. The band sold out its most recent visit to the AT&T Center in 2009.

Anyone who follows Keenan knows that he has poured into his winemaking the same passion he uses to make music. “I’m an extremely intense and passionate person, and I invest myself fully into every endeavor I undertake,” he writes in the mission statement of Caduceus Cellars/Merkin Vineyards. He also has partnered with vintner Eric Glomski, who owns Page Springs Cellars, to bottle wines from Arizona Stronghold Vineyard.

Folks who check out the movie, which is screening nightly at 7:30 Thursday through Sunday, will also have a chance to check out his wines. Preshow tastings at 6 will feature the following wines by the glass or in a flight for $8:

If local fans react to the movie the way they did when Keenan came to town to promote his wines, the screenings ought to sell out. The local Whole Foods Market sold out of nearly 1,600 bottles in a few hours when Keenan and Glomski dropped by for a promotional visit last year.

“I want to make wine that’s going to express where I’m from and what’s happening on this piece of soil,” he said then in an interview with the Express-News’ Jennifer McInnis. “And if we’re successful in doing this, there’s a whole domino effect of sustainability and local community nurturing that comes out of a vineyard. It’s not like planting lettuce. This is a commitment to community.”

So how’s the movie? In this three-star review, Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel called it an “informative if sometimes dizzy documentary.” He added, “Keenan comes off as both another famous dilettante dabbling with the grape, and a guy determined to do it right.”